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Instead, I found Henry and Fox’s ‘girls’. A tall redhead named Amanda and a petite, curvy brunette named Tessie. As we made small talk about nothing, I surveyed the club, constructing a mental map. Gavin Crude occasionally came to this club, although I had the feeling this was primarily Aiden’s territory. My best chance at Gavin Crude would probably come as he was leaving this club.
Tessie drained the last of her champagne and set it down on the table, her enormous emerald engagement ring flashing under the strobing lights. “Does anyone want to visit the ladies’ room with me?”
“Absolutely,” I said. Amanda came with us, so she wouldn’t be left out—sometimes I didn’t understand other women—and I took the opportunity as we were talking at the long black marble sinks to liberate a cell phone from Tessie’s purse.
On our way out, I concealed it just in time, since Dominic was waiting outside the bathroom door. I hadn’t seen him earlier, but apparently he was Aiden’s favorite bodyguard. I breezed past him as if he was nothing; I had the feeling he would want to prove to me that he wassomething.
I could feel his gaze on my back, and an electric prickle ran up my spine. Dominic could be useful to me if I seduced him.
Besides being useful, I thought he’d befun.
“So, let me see this ring,” I said, holding out my hand to Tessie.
She lit up and prattled on, just as I’d hoped, and I smiled and nodded as she went on about her engagement ring.
“How did he propose to you?” I asked, when she was winding down, and she started all over again.
“So,” Amanda asked me, clearly looking for an opening to hear something she hadn’t heard six times before, “Do you have any dreams for how you hope Aiden will askyou?”
“Hopefully he’ll get my father’s permission. I’ve always been old fashioned, and so is he.” I had no idea why anyone wanted daddy’s permission fortheirbig life choices, but I had a feeling these two might.
“Oh,” Tessie looked slightly uncomfortable, and she reached for her purse, pulling it across the booth toward her. Fox wrapped his arm around her shoulders, though he didn’t look at her; he and Henry and Aiden were deep in conversation. I had a feeling jewelry and Parisian hot air balloon rides never came up.
Tessie dug through her purse and then said, “Where’s my phone?”
“Take a night off from Instagram and Tiktok,” Fox told her impatiently, glancing away from his conversation just to chide her. I might find her a little annoying, but he was insufferable.
She ignored him. “Oh no, I must have lost my phone.”
“Didn’t you have it before we went to the bathroom?” Amanda asked her. “Did you leave it there?”
The girls rushed back to look.
Aiden leaned over to give me a sharp look as Fox and Henry were joking about Tessie losing everything. He leaned over to me and whispered in my ear, “There will be consequences.”
I looked back innocently.
Aiden didn’t look convinced. “Take the phone out of wherever you have it stashed on your body. And drop it on the seat. We’ll pretend she must have dropped it from her purse.”
He finished his words by kissing my throat just beneath my ear. I tilted my head to one side.
Reluctantly, I did what he told me. I would have liked to have pried the phone apart and taken a piece or two, but I knew that it was too late for that. He was watching me too carefully.
The only thing worse than a gangster is asmartgangster.
CHAPTER7
Xander
My newest projectwas rapidly turning into a flop. I’d been up all night, and so I heard in the small hours in the morning when Aiden came back in with the girl.
I had felt the stirring in the house since she arrived. I’d only spent a few moments with her. But seeing was the least important thing. I couldfeelher. Her energy floated through the house, charging the air.
Something had changed when she came in.
But she didn’t return to the room across from mine. They went somewhere else. For a moment, my fantasies spun, but as I headed downstairs to the bar, I could feel how quiet the entire floor was.
They hadn’t gone to Aiden’s room.
